There are at least 700,000
Thai People with HIV/AIDS.
Only 5,000 get ARV Treatment presently.
100,000 to 250,000 would benefit from ARV Treatment NOW.
Currently, only 5% of Public Health Spending is for HIV/AIDS.

On November 30, the day before World AIDS
Day, about one thousand Thai people living with HIV/AIDS and their
allies will descend on the Parliament House in Bangkok to demand
equal treatment under the new universal health care plan, which
currently provides coverage for treatment of every disease --except
chronic renal failure and HIV/AIDS.

The Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) promised
to include AIDS drugs if the monthly cost of production were below
2,500 Thai Baht (THB) per regimen. (US$55). Even though the Government
Pharmaceutical Organization (GPO) announced last month it could
produce regimens for 2,310 Baht/month, the MOPH has resisted inclusion
of anti-retroviral drugs in the universal health coverage plan.
Activists intend to stay at the Parliament until an outcome that
respects their dignity, right to life and health, and equality
is achieved.

ACTION

The International Gay and Lesbian Human
Rights Commission (IGLHRC), together with the Thai Network of
People Living with HIV/AIDS (TNP+) and the Thai NGO Coalition
On AIDS (TNCA), asks for urgent letters to the Prime Minister
and Minister of Public Health. We demand that the Thai government
fulfill its promise to include AIDS drugs under the universalized
health care plan and immediately increase the AIDS treatment budget
and step up provision of domestically produced generic anti-retrovirals.

Note: If you have no time or have
difficulty sending faxes/letters to the authorities themselves,
please send them to TNP+ or MSF and they will forward them.

SAMPLE LETTER:

Dear Honorable (Prime) Minister,

We congratulate you on your commitment
to expand access to essential health care to all people living
in Thailand through the new 30-Baht Health Care Plan. We are outraged,
however, that people living with HIV/AIDS are being singled out
as a group that cannot benefit from this plan, although AIDS is
the leading cause of death in Thailand. We request that you demonstrate
your commitment to protecting and promoting the health and lives
of people living with HIV/AIDS by immediately taking steps to
increase the AIDS budget and include anti-retroviral therapy under
the 30-Baht Health Care Plan.

Access to essential drugs is a part of
the human right to health. Article 25 of the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights (UDHR) affirms that "Everyone has the right
to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being
of himself and of his family," and stipulates the right to
medical care as an aspect of this right. In 1999, Thailand ratified
the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights
(ICESCR), and in doing so acknowledged its obligation to uphold
the principles enshrined in it. Article 12 of the ICESCR recognizes
"the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest available
standard of mental and physical health." It mandates States,
among other steps, to take necessary measures for the "prevention,
treatment, and control of epidemic, endemic, occupational and
other diseases," as well as to create "conditions which
would assure to all medical service and medical attention in the
event of sickness."

Science and practice show that anti-retroviral
medications greatly reduce the incidence of opportunistic infections
and subsequent hospital admissions, and death. HIV/AIDS therapy
can reinvigorate prevention efforts, lessen stigma, and improve
the demand for HIV testing. In Brazil, Europe, and the United
States anti-retrovirals have turned HIV/AIDS into a manageable
chronic infection, providing confirmation of their cost-effectiveness.
Treatment keeps people alive and productive longer, including
prolonging parents' lives so that they can raise their own children.
Most of all, as South African AIDS activists have noted, a lack
of HIV/AIDS treatment undermines one's aspirations to freedom,
equality and dignity.

Denying access to life-saving AIDS medications
to the hundreds of thousands of people who need them now is an
abrogation of both domestic and international law. International
human rights law guarantees freedom from discrimination on any
ground, including health status. According to the Thai Constitution,
there shall be no unjust discrimination against a person on the
grounds of the difference in health condition. The Constitution
also provides that "a person shall enjoy an equal right"
to receive health services. Thailand's National Plan for Prevention
and Alleviation of HIV/AIDS also prohibits all forms of discrimination
against HIV infected people. Thailand's Eighth National Economic
and Social Development Plan calls on the government to "promote
more comprehensive delivery of health care and health services
for people living with HIV/AIDS."

The UN International Guidelines on HIV/AIDS
and Human Rights call on governments and communities to confront
difficult issues with a sense of urgency, underlining the universality
and indivisibility of human rights. On treatment, they say "the
human rights obligations of States to prevent discrimination and
to assure medical service and medical attention for everyone in
the event of sickness require States to ensure that no one is
discriminated against in the health-care setting on the basis
of their HIV status."

The Thai government, as signatory to the
United Nations General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS (UNGASS)
Declaration of Commitment (2001), recognizes that "access
to medication in the context of pandemics such as HIV/AIDS is
one of the fundamental elements to achieve progressively the full
realization of the right of everyone to enjoyment of the highest
attainable standard of physical and mental health."

Governments play a vital role in achieving
universal access to essential drugs. The Thai government has shown
in the past that political will is a key to successfully addressing
the epidemic. We therefore encourage you to work with the key
stakeholders in this treatment access movement, Thai people living
with HIV/AIDS themselves. Thai AIDS activists have taken initiative
to express their commitment to working with the government to
improve its capacity to treat. We stand in solidarity with Paisan
Tan-Ud, chairman of the Thai Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS
(TNP+), when he says that all people should be treated equally,
regardless of the type of illness they suffer, and that there
should be no exemption for any disease under the universal health
plan nor should cost be the deciding factor.

You have the power and authority to immediately
expand your public health and AIDS budget and the availability
of quality life-saving generic AIDS drugs. We hope that your government
will choose to fulfill its human rights obligations by creating
the conditions in which people with HIV/AIDS in Thailand can exercise
all their rights, freely, fully, and equally.

Yours Sincerely,

______________

RIGHT
TO HEALTH ~~~ RIGHT TO LIFE~~~ RIGHT TO EQUALITY

~~ FREEDOM FROM DISCRIMINATION~~

BACKGROUND

In Thailand, 1 in 60 people, or approximately
1 million people are infected with HIV. It has the 15th largest
number of HIV-infected people in the world, and there are approximately
30,000 new infections every year; 4,200 are children.

In October 2001, the Thai Government Pharmaceutical
Organization (GPO), which produces generic versions of essential
anti-retrovirals including AZT, ddI, d4T, 3TC and Nevirapine,
announced it would reduce the monthly cost of its anti-retroviral
medications from 5,000 Baht (US$112) to 2,500 Baht (US$ 55) by
December 2001. Earlier this year, the Minister of Public Health
had announced that, according to government policy, once the cost
of producing anti-retroviral medication prices dropped below 2,500
Baht the new universalized health care scheme would provide coverage
for these drugs. Activists, however, are dissatisfied with the
reticence of the government to enact this policy since the price
reduction was announced.

The Thai government currently provides AIDS
medications to approximately 3,000 people. Recently, Thongchai
Tavichachart, director of the GPO, said he expected to have the
capacity to serve the needs of 50,000 patients by the end of 2001
and next year could supply at least 100,000. Yet the government
has until now made no definite move to expand access.

The Thai national budget for 2002 is 100,000
million Baht, with 1,000 million devoted to HIV/AIDS-related programs.
In 2001, HIV/AIDS-related programs received 1,500 million Baht;
this year's reduction is attributed to the fact that the new universal
health coverage policy includes prophylaxis and treatment for
opportunistic infections. In 2002, 250 million Baht will be spent
on anti-retroviral treatment; this past year, the budget was 240
million Baht.

The Thai Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS
(TNP+) is one of the strongest HIV/AIDS support and advocacy bodies
in the Asia/Pacific Islands region, with membership comprising
over 460 groups across the country. Working in coalition with
non-government AIDS organizations and other allies, TNP+ has been
advocating for universal treatment access for people living with
HIV/AIDS since the current administration, led by the Thai Rak
Thai party, came into power in 1997.

It is again coming to the World AIDS Day.
Usually, when it comes to the 1st of December, we will hear lots
of messages saying how many people infected with HIV globally
and nationally. Besides, it is kind of shock to know an enormous
number of infected people die of AIDS each day and each year.
It has been about 20 years since the start of HIV epidemic in
Thailand and we have lost not less than 300,000people
who have died and were actually forces for the nation. Without
committing to do something, we will have at least 7 people
DEAD each hour even though there are effective antiretroviral
treatments available.

Therefore, we, the Thai Network for People
living with HIV/AIDS and AIDS NGOs about 1,000 lives are here
to show our solidarity and to listen to the commitment from the
new government of era "Rethink Redo".

This government has announced what so
called "30 Baht Health Scheme" in which the scheme supposes
to cover treatment of all diseases, but apparently it excludes
antiretroviral treatment for AIDS. The minister of health once
has said that ARV would be considered in the universal coverage
if prices come down to 2,500 baht. To support this idea, the Government
Pharmaceutical Organisation (GPO) will reduce price of triple
regimen to 2,310 baht in mid December this year. That's why we're
here to remind the minister keeping her promise.

Detail of movement.
30 November
- 8.00 am. Perform religious ceremony "showing respect to
the King
Rama 5".
- 9-10 am. Walk to the government house.
- from 10 am. Wait for the answer from the government and there
are
activities throughout the day

The whole day, we will have activities called
"barefoot doctors" to show the capacity of PHA who can
help to screen their friends and be involved in treatment which
is always seen as doctors' responsibilities and not the patients'.

We need media attention who could help us
pass on this message to the man of power and general public. Please
contact:
Jeeranuch (01-8118333), ACCESS
Nimit (01-9104884), ACCESS
Paisan (01-8245434), Chairman of Thai Network for people living
with HIV/AIDS
Onanong (01-8384233), Medecins Sans Frontieres-Belgium, Thailand

Thai government to make
own, cheaper AIDS drugs by end of yearby BUSABA
SIVASOMBOON, Associated Press Writer, 10/19/2001
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - Thailand's state pharmaceutical enterprise
plans by year's end to be manufacturing most of the expensive
drugs commonly used to treat people with HIV, the virus that causes
AIDS.

The move will cut the cost of treatment in half, Thongchai Tavichachart,
director of the Government Pharmaceutical Organization, said Friday.
He said the price of an average month's supply of the drugs would
drop to 2,300 baht (dlrs 51) per person from 5,000 baht (dlrs
92.50) at present.

In January, in a move to make medicines more affordable, Thailand
changed drug registration regulations in a way that give high-priced
foreign products competition from locally-produced generic versions.
The high cost of medicines on which multinational pharmaceutical
companies hold the patents has in recent years become a major
complaint in many developing nations. The issue frequently arises
with drugs used to treat symptoms and side-effects of AIDS.

Thongchai said he expected that the Government Pharmaceutical
Organization would in the next three to four months have the capacity
to produce enough of the drugs used in so-called "AIDS cocktails,"
comprising drugs such as AZT and Nevirapine, to serve the needs
of 50,000 patients. Within a year, it should be able to supply
at least 100,000 patients.

The official number of HIV-infected persons in Thailand is 500,000,
although other estimates are twice as high. About 200,000 patients
are undergoing drug therapy, said Thongchai. He said the Government
Pharmaceutical Organization has invested 20 million baht (dlrs
445,000) in improving its AIDS drug manufacturing capacity. The
enterprise currently manufactures small amount of the drugs on
a trial basis.

There have been several major moves this year to tackle the problem
of expensive patented AIDS drugs. In February, an Indian drug
company announced it would offer AIDS treatments to poor countries
at a massively reduced price. Cipla Ltd. said it would sell its
triple-combination therapy drugs to the aid agency Doctors Without
Borders - known by its French initials MSF - for dlrs 350 and
to governments for dlrs 600 per patient per year. The drugs currently
cost more than dlrs 1,000 in developing countries, while in rich
countries they can cost as much as dlrs 15,000 annually.

In August, Brazil threatened to make a generic version of the
AIDS drug Nelfinavir, made by Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche,
based on a law that allows the government to produce a generic
version of a patented drug in the case of "economic abuse"
or a health "emergency." The threat was withdrawn when
Roche promised to slash its price by 40 percent. Multinational
drug makers have also extended generous terms to some countries
in Africa, hardest hit by the AIDS epidemic.

Thai activists report over 1000
PLWHAs showed up for this historic and victorious demonstration!

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - Thailand's government
on Friday bowed to AIDS patients' demands to provide them treatment
under a government program that offers medicare for 30 baht (70
U.S. cents) per hospital visit.

Addressing about 300 HIV patients protesting
in front of the government headquarters, Public Health Minister
Sudarat Keyurapan said the government has decided in principle
to put AIDS treatment in the medicare program next year.The announcement is a triumph for 1 million
Thais suffering from HIV or AIDS, who have campaigned for government
medical help since the 30-baht program was launched April 1st.
The program will initially cover those showing symptoms of the
disease.

The plan, one of Prime Minister Thaksin
Shinawatra's nine populist promises that won him a landslide victory
in January elections, began April 1 as a pilot project in six
provinces and went nationwide in October.It
aims to cover 46.6 million of Thailand's 62 million people who
have no private health insurance. The program's beneficiaries
pay 3020 baht (70 cents) every time they visit a hospital to be
eligible for consultation, treatment and medicines for almost
every disease except AIDS and kidney dialysis.

"We're very happy that the government
finally looked at our plight," said Paisan Tan-Utra, president
of Thai Network for People Living with HIV and AIDS.A working committee comprising all parties concerned
would be set up to oversee the progress. The first talks are expected
to start next month or in January, Paisal said.His
group is staging an all-day rally with activities in front of
Government House to mark World AIDS Day on Saturday.Paisan said the government bowed to the demand
after talks between the representatives of the protesters and
minister Sudarat, who was accompanied by the heads of the Communicable
Disease Control Department and the Government Pharmaceutical Organization.

Sudarat said the ministry would double
the anti-AIDS budget to 50020 million baht (dlrs 11 million) next
year. Under the deal, each patient would receive the locally made
AIDS cocktail drug worth 2,310 baht (dlrs 52) every month."The budget could cover about 6,000
to 7,000 AIDS patients and the rest would join soon," said
Sudarat.

At present, most HIV-positive people are
left untreated as they cannot afford the drugs despite the government's
effort to cut costs by producing some of the cheapest ones locally.

Thailand is credited with bringing down
the rate of HIV/AIDS infection by 80 percent after a massive awareness
and condom distribution campaign in the early 1990s.

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - Thailand's government
on Friday bowed to AIDS patients' demands to provide them treatment
under a government program that offers medicare for 30 baht (70
U.S. cents) per hospital visit. Addressing about 300 HIV patients
protesting in front of the government headquarters, Public Health
Minister Sudarat Keyurapan said the government has decided in
principle to put AIDS treatment in the medicare program next year.

The announcement is a triumph for 1 million
Thais suffering from HIV or AIDS, who have campaigned for government
medical help since the 30-baht program was launched April 1. The
program will initially cover those showing symptoms of the disease.
The plan, one of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's nine populist
promises that won him a landslide victory in January elections,
began April 1 as a pilot project in six provinces and went nationwide
in October. It aims to cover 46.6 million of Thailand's 62 million
people who have no private health insurance. The program's beneficiaries
pay 30 baht (70 cents) every time they visit a hospital to be
eligible for consultation, treatment and medicines for almost
every disease except AIDS and kidney dialysis.

"We're very happy that the government
finally looked at our plight," said Paisal Tan-Utra, president
of Thai Network for People Living with HIV and AIDS. A working
committee comprising all parties concerned would be set up to
oversee the progress. The first talks are expected to start next
month or in January, Paisal said. His group is staging an all-day
rally with activities in front of Government House to mark World
AIDS Day on Saturday. Paisal said the government bowed to the
demand after talks between the representatives of the protesters
and minister Sudarat, who was accompanied by the heads of the
Communicable Disease Control Department and the Government Pharmaceutical
Organization. Sudarat said the ministry would double the anti-AIDS
budget to 500 million baht (dlrs 11 million) next year. Under
the deal, each patient would receive the locally made AIDS cocktail
drug worth 2,310 baht (dlrs 52) every month. "The budget
could cover about 6,000 to 7,000 AIDS patients and the rest would
join soon," said Sudarat. At present, most HIV-positive people
are left untreated as they cannot afford the drugs despite the
government's effort to cut costs by producing some of the cheapest
ones locally. Thailand is credited with bringing down the rate
of HIV/AIDS infection by 80 percent after a massive awareness
and condom distribution campaign in the early 1990s. un/vj/kgo

Dressed in yellow and waving banners
reading "we are being discriminated against", the protesters
asked to be included in the Thai government's new low-cost health
scheme. Some protesters, dressed in white, created a "human
monument" meant to symbolise hope.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra swept
to a landslide election victory in January this year on a raft
of populist policies including a subsidised health scheme that
slashed hospital consultation fees to 30 baht ($0.68) per visit.
But critics were angered the government did not include treatment
for HIV/AIDS in the scheme.

"The government pharmaceutical organisation
can manufacture many of these drugs, including triple therapy
regimen, at less than $50 per month per person," said Jon
Ungphakorn, a member of Thailand's upper house and an HIV/AIDS
campaigner. "Tomorrow (December 1) is World AIDS Day and
we want a significant gesture from the government so that people
living with AIDS can lead a longer life, lead a healthier and
good quality life and be with their families for a long time,"
he said.

According to the Thai Network for People
Living with HIV/AIDS, the country has around 700,000 people who
are either HIV positive or suffering from AIDS.Around
100,000 - those with particularly vulnerable immune systems -
need anti-viral treatment.

Public Health Minister Sudarat Keyuraphun
told protesters she agreed in principle that HIV/AIDS treatment
should be included in the government's health scheme and said
her ministry would propose funds to provide drugs to between 6,000
and 7,000 people.

Activists said they were encouraged by
Sudarat's response, but wanted the government to supply cheap
anti-AIDS drugs to all that needed them within three years. "We
tried pushing on anti-viral drugs, but the people at the ministry
(of health) said it's not effective, expensive and the infrastructure
is not ready," said Paisan Tan-Ud, chairman of the Thai Network
for People living with HIV/AIDS. "But today it seems like
they've changed a little bit - much better than before,"
he said. ($1=44.05 baht).

BANGKOK, March 22 (AFP) - Thai health authorities
said Friday they will begin selling the world's cheapest anti-AIDS
drug early next month for less than a dollar a day, in a move
applauded by activists.

The Government Pharmaceutical Organisation
(GPO) is behind the first locally produced anti-retroviral (ARV)
"cocktail" which could end up helping hundreds of thousands
of HIV sufferers battle the virus which causes AIDS.

The drug, called GPO-VIR, is a single pill
combining Stavudine, Lamivudine and Nevirapine, which are known
to inhibit the production of HIV in the body.

GPO director Thongchai Thavichachart told
AFP his organisation produced a successful initial batch of 120,000
tablets of the drug on March 18 and will first market it at six
GPO outlets in early April.

"We will sell it for 20 baht (46 US
cents) per tablet, which is very cheap," he said.

The dosage is set at two tablets per day,
making the 1,200 baht (27 dollars) monthly cost the cheapest in
the world, Thailand's public health ministry said.

It would also slash Thailand's current lowest
monthly cost of 2,500 baht for ARVs by more than half.

The GPO aims to increase production to three
million tablets per month over the next six months to meet demand,
Thongchai said.

He noted the GPO has successfully prescribed
cocktails of the three separate drugs for three years to more
than 2,000 AIDS patients.

GPO, Bangkok's Mahidol University and the
Department of Medical Science in the health ministry are to submit
a proposal for GPO-VIR testing on up to 16,000 HIV-AIDS patients,
he said.

International group Medecins Sans Frontieres
(Doctors Without Borders - MSF) welcomed GPO-VIR's launch and
said it was considering buying the drugs for use internationally.

"We have used GPO drugs on hundreds
of patients in Thailand and we have no reason to believe there
is any problem with the quality of GPO-VIR," said the Thailand
director of MSF-France Yorgos Kapranis.

"Thailand is the only country in Southeast
Asia that is producing affordable generic drugs for AIDS patients,"
he added.

Thai AIDS activists also voiced their approval.

"This launching of the cocktail pill
is a benefit on personal and national levels," said Nimit
Tien-udom, director of the AIDS Access Foundation.

A previous Thai concoction touted as a "miracle
cure" for AIDS, V-1 Immunitor, was distributed last year
to thousands of HIV patients in Thailand before it was declared
ineffective by the ministry of health.

Distribution of V-1 Immunitor touched off
a storm of controversy among AIDS activists and health officials.

Public Health Minister Sudarat Keyuraphan
said in a statement the success of GPO-VIR could reduce expenses
for some 695,000 Thai HIV-AIDS patients, some of whom have been
paying up to 20,000 baht (460 dollars) monthly for drugs.

An estimated one million of Thailand's 60
million people have been infected with HIV, and one third of those
have already died.

More than 180,000 Thais contracted HIV last
year and some 68,000 developed full-blown AIDS, according to the
health ministry's AIDS division.

Thailand's vocal AIDS activists have long
pressed the government for anti-retroviral drugs and HIV treatment
to be included in a public health care scheme which allows patients
to pay just 30 baht per hospital visit.

Thursday, August 15, 2002HIV-Positive Men NOT
Eligible for Thailand's Proposed National Health Care

HIV-positive men will not be covered
under the new national health care plan proposed by Thai Prime
Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, the Christian Science Monitor reports.
Under the plan, "underinsured" people can access any
medical treatment for a 75-cent copay, and although HIV-positive
women and children are eligible for the subsidized health care
coverage, men with HIV are not. HIV/AIDS activists are insisting
that the government provide health care for all HIV-positive people.
Sen. Jon Ungpakorn, "a long-time campaigner for health care
reform," has suggested that the national health insurance
copayment be increased to approximately $48 per patient per year
and include all people with HIV/AIDS. Ungpakorn added that the
coverage must be "comprehensive" to draw in middle-class
patients and keep the program from becoming "a third-class
form of health care for the poor." Although the proposed
health plan has not yet passed the parliament, officials have
already distributed 45 million cards to potential beneficiaries.
Approximately one million Thai residents are HIV-positive and
200,000 more have AIDS.

(Montlake, Christian
Science Monitor, 8/14)

The 5th International
Conference on Home and Community Care for Persons Living with
HIV/AIDS
Community March, December 18, 2001, Chiang Mai THAILAND

.
Brief speech by ACT UP/New York
at the Community March, Chiang Mai, Thailand, December 18, 2001
(presented in Thai and English) :

"As members of ACT UP/New York, we
are honored to be with you.
"Nothing has ever been given to our communities; it has
always been TAKEN by the courageous and the radical.

"The United States Government has
a very poor record on AIDS and healthcare, both worldwide and
in our own country:

The United States Government makes HIV
prevention ILLEGAL for people with greatest risks.

The United States Government prohibits
people with HIV from Immigration.

The United States Government PIMPS for
corporate drug-company monopolies on AIDS treatments.

The United States is the only industrialized
country in the world without NATIONAL HEALTHCARE,
leaving more than 40 million of it's population without access
to Healthcare.

"The United States Government has
no right to speak to other countries on AIDS Care.
"Universal ACCESS to Treatment and Care is a HUMAN RIGHT.
We stand in solidarity with you."